There are two general types of broadheads used today: fixed blade and mechanical opening blades. Fixed blade types are those where the cutting blades are rigidly mounted to the main shaft while mechanical broadheads generally fly with moveable blades in the closed position and the blades are opened by interacting with the desired target. While many designs are known to be effective at producing the desired effect of dispatching quarry, a major drawback to fixed blade designs is that they do not fly as accurately or precisely as similar weight practice or target points. The archer will spend time practicing and tuning their equipment to achieve a level of confidence using arrows tipped with non-broadhead type target tips only to find that when the broadheads are attached to the same arrow shafts, the arrows fly differently. The aerodynamics of most fixed blade broadheads differs significantly from target or field points so the archer must then re-adjust all their settings to compensate for the change in impact point accuracy or loss of precision. In some cases, acceptable accuracy cannot be achieved at all.
With the advent of mechanical broadheads, most of the accuracy re-adjustments disappeared. Since the mechanically deployed blades remain retracted completely or at very low profile during flight, the aerodynamics are very similar to target points. In most cases and with most designs, the archer has to make small or no adjustments to their equipment to switch over to hunting broadheads after practice tips. However, as with most solutions designed to solve one problem, a host of other negative issues were found to go along with the positive effects.
The first issue with mechanical broadheads is the decrease in energy associated with using mechanically deployed blades. Most of the mechanical broadheads currently patented and available for use have blades that use the forward momentum or kinetic energy of the flying arrow in order to open them. Generally, upon impact to the target, some part of the closed blade makes contact with the animal and forces the blades to open by some sort of sliding or pivoting action. This can significantly diminish the effectiveness of the arrow as the energy loss used in opening the blades means less energy available for penetrating the target.
Another issue with mechanical broadheads is that they are unreliable. They can open prematurely during arrow flight, which causes havoc with accuracy resulting in missed or poorly hit quarry. Many methods and patents relate to providing a reliable means of keeping the moving blades closed during flight and yet somehow ensuring the blades are able to open on impact.
A third major issue with mechanical broadheads is that they may not open when needed. There may not be enough kinetic energy left in the arrow to cause them to open for instance. The angle of incidence to the quarry might cause only one blade to open or even cause the arrow to miss the quarry completely when the blades pivot open. The blades may become entangled in the quarry's fur/hair before engaging proper substance resulting in the blades not operating as intended.
Due to these and other inherent flaws in the current mechanical designs, many archers have not embraced the mechanical broadheads as a viable solution to the fixed broadhead shortcomings. In fact, some state's game management practices established by their governing game departments do not allow the use of mechanical broadheads at all. It is for these reasons that a more reliable and efficient idea was needed.
The present disclosure provides improved mechanical archery broadheads that solves the issues related to using fixed blade designs and eliminates the problems created by the current designs of mechanically deployed blades.